A Cassette By the Side Table
by EshtarWind
Summary: A cassette lying by the side table... leaving memories... and love. [Tentencentric fic feat. Tenten's Dad] [Slight NejiTen]


**Author's Note: Originally written for tensquared's Tenten contest with the theme: 'One Last Dance.' Ma... Enjoy!!!**

**Title: **_**A Cassette by the Side Table  
**_**Characters:**_** Tenten, Tenten's father, glimpse of Team Gai (slight Nejiten)  
**_**Rate:**_** K+  
**_**Summary:**_** An old cassette lying by the side table… leaving memories… and love.**_

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**A Cassette by the Side table**

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Good night, my dear, in the embracement of the same sky  
We will see each other again on the small hill shone upon by morning sun

_**Sawashiro Miyuki: Chiisana Mahou**_

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_When she was born, the labour brought death of her mother. Nobody, not even the midwife, disturbed her father as he stared at the two females in his life—one just left while the other just arrived, a healthy amber-eyed baby girl. Emotion swirled in his brown eyes as he struggled for words… Confused between crying or laughing… until the baby started to cry. A gentle sound in his ears, like a song in the rain… like the sound of the breeze… Then after a while, he brought the crying baby into his arms with trembling hands and said, "Ten… Heaven. Tenten. Her name is Tenten… Two heavens… For one that already left me… and one that the Sky just gave to me…"_

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Tenten straightened her clothes in front of the mirror. She took sometime to look at the photos arranged neatly on top of the side table by the edge of the bedroom. Neji always loved tidiness so everything in their bedroom is neat and well-placed. But somehow… nobody touched an old cassette that was lying near Neji and Tenten's wedding photo, completely out of place. Tenten slowly reached out and took the cassette in her hand. On top of the cassette was written:

**The Flying Shuriken**

A smile curved up her lips. The Flying Shuriken… Old band… old songs… and how it brought up old memories into her mind…

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_She was hardly a year old when her father taught her how to dance. The song was The Flying Shuriken's song, so unlike the silly children song parents used to let their daughters hear but her father taught her spiritedly, smiling as she tried to steady her self to stand… and how she moved to the beat. He eventually said that she danced before she could even stand. The next morning, the whole village of Konoha knew that the blacksmith's daughter was able to dance in her cradle._

_She was three… and her father used to throw her to the air, hearing her squealing with joy as she wriggled in the wind. Her father said that someday she will be able to dance with the wind. Dancing in the air. Like a dragon. Since that day, an image carved itself in her mind: an image of her dancing in the air… along with the dragons. It became an obsession… and she made it came true a couple of years later._

_She was five that day and her father brought her to Konoha Village Festival. She was wearing a flaming red yukata and her father said that she resembled a princess. And 'Princess' was just how her father called her when the dance party began. People said they were the best couple on the dance floor._

_She was six… and that day was the academy's first day. She managed to get through the first day smoothly and when she arrived at home, her father already held a 'banquet' in the living room. The closing, of course, is a dance with the Flying Shuriken's song._

_The world went on so fast and suddenly she was twelve, anxious in her dark blue sleeveless blouse—waiting for her new formed team to come to her house for a feast. Two boys were in her team; a blank eyed Hyuuga and a bowl haired boy. Her mentor was a weird man all clad in green. She thought those three would never come but she was wrong. They came after all… and everything went on well. She even danced with her new teacher… with the song she and her father loved so much: The Flying Shuriken. The bowl haired boy cheered for her alongside her father while the blank eyed one… only watched. Heck. She wanted to ask him for a dance sometime after now. She wondered whether he will ever accept._

_It was a war and she was sent on a mission with her team. She and Neji were separated from Lee and Gai just like the plan. Assault came as expected but it was larger than they thought it'll be. They were both exhausted and on the verge of death when they finally found a shelter—a cave. In that dark and cold cave, out of the odds, she asked him for a dance—perhaps triggered by the near-death situation they had and how she always wanted to dance with him, how she always waited for him to come and ask her to dance in every festival Konoha had but it never came true. She thought he would never reply but it surprised her when he suddenly went to her side and swayed with her, following the beating of their heart and the sound of their breath. When she got home and told her father everything, he smiled widely at her, telling her that she finally got the man she had loved for years. After a full-hour of blushing her father finally able to ask her for a dance. A celebration dance, celebrating her love life. Despite the exhaustion, she accepted. It was a dance for her after all._

_She was twenty four… and it was her wedding day. After all the ceremony over with, a dance—as expected—was held. But when the music started, instead of dancing, Neji let go off her hand then bowed in front of her father. There was no better partner for her in her first dance than her father. The old man accepted, coughing but smiling nevertheless. After the emotional minutes of dancing with the father she loved so much, finally it was Neji who took her hand. In a day… she danced with two men she loved the most in her life._

_She was twenty six… and she walked home after a week long mission. She had a paper bag full of vegetables in her arms, a gift from the client that lived in the Grass Country. The sun was setting but despite her longing to her home, back to her husband, she found herself walking towards her father's house. She didn't know why… Her feet took her there, to the place where she grew up. While looking at the unchanged lawn, she suddenly had all memories stormed back into her mind like a movie. Driven by some unknown impulses, she walked to the door and knocked. It took a while for the old man to open the door and answered her greetings._

_He was old and frail… but his eyes still shone with the same spirit that he possessed years ago. Looking at the brown orbs so akin to hers, she found herself leading him to the living room and played the cassette of the Flying Shuriken. Her father took her hand and without a word, they began to dance. He couldn't move as fast and agile as he was when he was young so they swayed slowly, listening to the old song and breathing in the scent of the past. When she held her father's body closer she realized… unlike the past, it was him that was leaning to her. Unlike the past, she was the one that determined their steps. He was following her movement, feeling her swayed… since he was unable to follow the beat anymore. She didn't know why but she cried in his shoulder, feeling him holding her gently._

"_You can dance now," he whispered. "It feels like yesterday when you still wriggled in your cradle, listening to this song."_

_She choked by her tears and hugged him closer. They didn't say anything more. Silence was enough for both of them… Only the music was heard._

_After the dance, he gave her the Flying Shuriken cassette. She accepted it in confusion until she heard him say, "Teach your children how to dance. Life is a song after all."_

_She nodded and promised him. After that she went home, her cassette was safe in her pocket and she was glad she had something to give to Neji—something more meaningful than just a paper bag full of vegetables. Perhaps they both can start their own dance from now on._

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"Tenten."

Tenten snapped back to the reality when Neji's voice came from the door. He approached her slowly, looking at what she was holding. A wounded look crossed his eyes and he hugged her from behind, whispering, "The funeral will be held soon. It won't begin until you arrive."

She touched his hands lightly and said, "I know. Let's go."

He let her go and she put her hand into his—feeling the cold of his wedding ring. She eventually put the cassette down on the side table and left the room with her husband. The paper door slid closed… and they both walked to the funeral.

Her father's funeral. Her father that died in his sleep, right in the same night when she left with the cassette in her pocket, closing the song that hums the tune of his existence. The beat of their dance.

_The End._

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**Note: It looks a lot better in my mind… and as always, my English is a mess so… ;p. Nyahahahahaha. The idea just popped out of nowhere… and… of course, I guess there is no The Flying Shuriken band out there. Silly, Silly name… Thanks for reading! Comments will always be welcomed! Unyahahahaha…**


End file.
